


Diversion

by lyingmap



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alcohol, Dubious Consent, F/F, Fantastic Racism, Possibly Pre-Slash, Pre-Series, Racist Weiss Schnee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-28
Updated: 2014-07-08
Packaged: 2018-02-06 14:45:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1861785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyingmap/pseuds/lyingmap
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The White Fang has been Blake Belladonna's whole life, until she left. Beacon's holding an open entrance exam in a week. Until then, she needs a place to stay and something to do. She knows a bar run by an old friend...</p><p>Slumming in Faunus bars is the hottest new trend among Vale City's young, rich, and bored. Weiss Schnee doesn't think it's a good idea, but her friends want to celebrate her getting into Beacon. And there is a definite thrill in being somewhere her family would not approve.</p><p>Their paths cross at the North Star Tavern. It's going to be a wild night in Vale City.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warnings for Weiss being a privileged, racist little brat, sexual harassment, sexist/misogynist language, and subtle mentions of abuse.

Blake Belladonna strode into the North Star, tension making her ears twitch under her bow. She kept moving, hiding the slight hesitation as her eyes adjusted from the bright sunlight of late afternoon to the gloom of the tavern. A young male cat Faunus moved around the empty room, sweeping the floor. Two more sat around one end of the battered wood bar, poking at the remains of a meal.

A big blonde blonde man with rabbit ears sitting behind the bar said without looking up, "We open in two hours, come back…" He slowly stood up, pulled a scimitar from beneath the countertop, and slung it across his shoulder. "Or you can never come back, Belladonna. Don't you see the sign?" He nodded toward a sign on the wall, with the White Fang's logo, overlaid with a violent red X.

Blake held up her hands, palms out and empty. "Hello, Silvio. I'm not with the White Fang any more."

"You expect me to believe that?" Silvio Delrei stepped out from behind the bar, his ears held back against his skull. Blake could sense the Faunus moving in behind her. Her hands itched for Gambol Shroud, but she knew it couldn't get her anything she wanted. "I heard about the Dust shipment, kitten."

"Then you heard that was my last job. I left right after that." She'd stowed away on the train, sent her resignation to the White Fang, and made her way to Vale City. "They're probably looking for me. I need your help."

Silvio watched her through hooded eyes, his hand tensing and relaxing on the hilt of his scimitar. Then he turned and set his scimitar on the bartop. "Have a seat. Touch that weapon of yours, and I'll cut you down."

Blake sat, and Silvio sat a stool away from her, drumming his fingers on his scimitar's hilt. The Faunus woman who had been sitting with him went behind the bar and set a bottle of beer next to the scimitar. He gestured at the bartender, and she set a glass of milk in front of Blake. "So. Tell me what happened. Why's the Black Cat in my bar?"

Blake nodded thanks to the bartender, despite the subtle dig at her age. "So, you heard about the Schnee train. My partner wanted to blow up the train… with the crew." Silvio straightened on his stool, and Blake held his gaze levelly. "I decoupled some of the cars and stowed away to here."

"That's interesting. The Fang didn't mention that part, just talked up how they'd stolen a load of Schnee Dust." Silvio took a sip of his beer. "So. What about quitting the White Fang?"

Blake stared down into her milk. "We were getting what we wanted, but… it was because humans were afraid of us, not because they respected us. And as soon as they aren't afraid of us anymore, all we'd won could go away." She glanced up and met Silvio's eyes. "So I left. There's an open entrance exam for admission to Beacon at the end of this week. I want to become a Huntress, and show people that Faunus can earn respect, not just fear."

"Ambitious, but -" Silvio looked her up and down, then nodded cautiously. "I bet you could make it. So you need a roof?"

She nodded, glad he had said it so she didn't have to. She'd lived in White Fang neighborhoods, eaten in White Fang shops, trained in White Fang practice halls. The Fang had been her life, and she felt its lack like a missing limb. "Yes. I don't think I can go home, and I don't want to get my family in trouble with the White Fang if they come after me. And you…"

"I have a reputation for kicking White Fang ass, is that it?" he finished, laughing. Then he smiled at her, a gentle expression that fit oddly with his hard-bitten appearance. "Blake, you know I was disappointed when your family stayed in the White Fang after Colomba stepped down and D'Ombre took over, and when you started taking part in their attacks."

He nodded slowly. "I've got a spare room upstairs. You're not the first person to come here running from the White Fang. I always pictured you as the one sent after them, not one of them."

"I wouldn't do that!"

Silvio held her gaze for a long moment, and said, "If you thought they were going to snitch to the government? Reveal White Fang secrets?"

Blake squirmed under Silvio's gaze, considering scenarios, and the unofficial slogans passed around between White Fang members - ' _snitches get stitches_ ,' or ' _squealers get skinned_.' "Well. Maybe. If they were dangerous." She took a deep breath. "I see what you mean."

"I can give you a place," he said after a pause, "but there's conditions. You work for me as a bouncer for a week, you get room and meals, and I keep your weapon."

"You keep my weapon?"

"My bouncers don't use assassin gear, Belladonna." His hand dropped below the bar and emerged with a wooden club half the length of Blake's forearm. "This is what my bouncers use. And you call me if you need anything heavier."

Blake took the club and tested its weight and heft. "I can work with this."

"I thought you would. Do you have a problem with humans?"

"Beacon's a mostly-human school, isn't it? I'll have to be okay with humans." She set down the club. "Why do you ask? It's not like many humans would come into a Faunus bar in this part of town."

"You'd be surprised. Turns out the latest fad among bored rich kids here in Vale City is to slum with the furries for a night." Blake raised her brows at the derogatory slang, but Silvio just nodded. "And you can feed a poor family for a week with the lien they drop in a night. They fund my helping Faunus get out of the Schnee quarries and into jobs that won't kill them."

"I can tolerate that, as long as you don't let them get out of hand."

"No, that's your job." Silvio finished his beer and stood. "And one more thing."

"Yes?"

Silvio pointed at her head. "Take off the bow. Under my roof, you hold your head up and be proud to be a Faunus."

She pulled off the bow and stowed it in a pocket, then unslung Gambol Shroud from her back and handed it across the bar.

Silvio took her weapon and bent to put it under the bar. "Welcome to the North Star, Blake."

###

As they piled into the armored limo, Olga complained, "I can't believe they threw us out! When my father hears about this…" She trailed off into grumbling as Weiss clambered in behind her and made for the back, followed by the other girls.

Weiss hadn't particularly wanted to go out on the town, but her friend Augusta wanted to go, and Weiss hadn't had much time with Augusta during the frantic preparations for her Beacon admission exam. When Aggie suggested a night on the town to celebrate Weiss' success, she hadn't been willing to refuse. And it was better than being at home, ever since the news came of the White Fang's latest theft.

Weiss shook off the gloomy thoughts and leaned back in the limo's plush seat, holding Myrtenaster between her knees. She had to enjoy her time with her friends - she wouldn't be likely to see much of Aggie or the others after she entered Beacon Academy. Few of her friends, the children and grandchildren of high-level Schnee executives who'd been thrown together as "safe" playmates when they were toddlers, had her obsessive drive to learn combat and magic, and none would be going to Beacon with her.

Once they were all in the limo, Weiss' cousin Marie Schnee told the driver through the intercom, "Just drive around, we'll figure out where we're going next," and leaned into her seat. "So, are there any clubs we _can_ get into without being eighteen?"

Weiss was about to suggest going back to Schnee Manor for ice cream when Augusta, always the first among them to try any new trend or experience, said, "I know a place in the Waterfront that's always fun, and they don't care much about ID. It's a Faunus bar."

"You dolt, a Faunus bar?" Weiss leaned forward. "We'd all have great big targets painted on our backs as soon as we get close!"

"Relax, Weiss, it's not a White Fang place. The last time I went, they had a big 'NO WHITE FANG' sign posted." Aggie sat back and spread her arms, taking up enough room inside the stretch limo for four people. "And besides, we have a future Huntress with us, we'll be fine!"

Weiss hid her grimace behind a polite smile. She knew she had skills, far better than any of her friends, but from overhearing her father yelling about the train hijacking, she knew the White Fang had some very dangerous operatives. After all, whoever could defeat dozens of AK-130 security androids and a Spider Droid were very powerful and skilled warriors, and the specter of the White Fang had hung over her family her entire life.

As the others agreed to the plan, and Aggie pulled out a scroll, she mutely nodded, promising in her heart to protect her friends from any Faunus riffraff who attacked them, as tough and valiant as the Huntress she would one day become.

###

Blake came on shift at ten her third night, as the North Star seethed with patrons lining up for cheap drinks and staying for the open stage night. Each act had ten minutes on the stage lining one side of the room, and another fifteen if Silvio, standing next to the bar with his hands resting on the pommel of his scimitar, gave his blessing.

Blake had mostly tuned out the crack-throated singing and bad jokes to do her job, weaving through the crowd and keeping local disagreements from spiraling into out-of-control conflagrations. Silvio's custom were mostly older poor Faunus from the neighborhood, tired after long shifts in the manufactories and sweatshops of the Industrial Sector, and tempers flared quickly when fueled by the cheap strong beer Silvio kept on tap. But the customers knew Silvio's rules, and Blake only had to make aggrieved parties step back from each other for them to remember themselves and forget their quarrel. She hadn't needed her club on her first two nights, as she'd learned the paces at the shoulder of a ram-horned Faunus named Kira. Tonight, she was working solo, acutely conscious of Silvio's eyes on her.

After breaking up another incipient brawl with nothing more than words and voice, Blake circled back to the bar and picked up a glass of the rough sun-brewed tea Silvio kept for his employees. "How'm I doing?" She asked the bar owner, shouting over the din.

"Not bad," he called back. His eyes flicked past her toward the door. Blake turned to follow his gaze and saw four human girls coming into the North Star and making a beeline for the bar through the crowd. "There they are," he muttered, so low only Blake could hear.

Blake took a gulp of tea to hide her expression. All four wore expensive clothes that stuck out like a sore thumb amid the workaday garb of the Faunus patrons. The second girl had short spiked white hair and the fine features of a member of the Schnee family, and the fourth, with long white hair and an elaborate rapier on her hip… Blake choked on her tea. _Is that Weiss? The Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company? What is_ she _doing here?_

She glanced up at Silvio, and found he was looking at her. "Keep an eye on them, would you?"

Blake threw back her tea, looked up at Silvio, and nodded.

###

Weiss followed her friends into the North Star with one hand on Myrtenaster, her eyes surveying the crowd for threats. The Faunus all around gave her friends a glance, then another glance, then went back to their drinks. _Well, this won't be so bad,_ she thought, as she saw the sign behind the bar with the White Fang logo, crossed with a red X.

Weiss and her friends crowded the bar, ordered drinks, and made their way to a corner away from the stage where much-stained couches had been set up in a rough semicircle, disdained by the Faunus patrons for the press in front of the stage. As they approached, an older beer-smelling Faunus with short horns growing from his temples stepped in their way, and Augusta stepped back in surprise. "Excuse me!" Aggie said.

"You're _excused_ ," he leered at them, leaning over Augusta and crowding her personal space. "Shouldn't be here, lil' humans."

Weiss stepped forward, handing her bottle to Marie and drawing Myrtenaster from her belt. Before she could confront the threat, a girl with long black hair materialized out of the crowd, putting herself directly between Augusta and the Faunus. He raised a hand, and she caught his wrist, holding him motionless despite being a head shorter and half his size.

###

"Step back," Blake said up into the face of the Faunus. He was obviously drunk, red-eyed and beer-breathed. She kept her body loose and free, channeling all her muscle-stiffening, breath-stealing tension into keeping her ears pressed flat against her skull, focusing so hard her scalp ached with the effort.

"What are you, her _maid_?" he mumbled, and tried to push past her.

She sidestepped into his path, and held his wrist to keep him slightly off balance. "Silvio pays me to keep anyone from hassling customers."

"Silv' should piss off, this is a Faunus bar." His eyes flicked back and forth, looking for a way past Blake, ignoring that she still held his arm.

"It's Silvio's bar, and they paid for their drinks." Blake could see another bouncer, ram-horned Kira, moving into position, keeping anyone else from helping the drunk Faunus. "Leave them alone."

"Don't tell me what to do, _pussy_." His body language telegraphed his every move. The singing tension in Blake's core snapped out, and her body danced to its tune.

###

The girl said something to the drunk Faunus, and the Faunus slurred something back, the words too distorted to be clear. Weiss stood motionless, Myrtenaster held ready, her muscles singing with tension and the urge to neutralize the threat. But the black-haired girl stood in any line of attack.

The drunken Faunus shifted slightly, then the black-haired girl moved so fast that Weiss only saw it by virtue of having her senses honed to a sharp edge by training and tension.

The black-haired girl pulled the Faunus' wrist so he was further off-balance. At the same time, her foot lifted slightly, then crashed down on his instep. The drunk howled and lowered his head to gore the girl, but her right hand slammed into his stomach. The drunk's voice gave way to retching, and the girl twisted to avoid his spew.

A red-haired woman with ram horns grabbed the drunk's shoulder and steered him toward the door, and the black-haired girl turned to Weiss as silence spread in a pool around them. Weiss stiffened as tilted amber eyes met hers, and pointed black ears rose from the mane of black hair. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for alcohol, some racism, a mention of prostitution, and misogynistic language. Weiss is, as before, a privileged little shitlord.

"Put the sword away," Blake said to the Heiress. "There's no danger."

"Who are you to say that?" Weiss shifted slightly, putting herself between Blake and her friends, and Blake read expert training in the girl's stance. _That's a surprise,_ she thought, _the White Fang thought she was an idle brat. And where did she get that scar across her eye?_ One thing was abundantly clear - the Schnee Heiress was much more dangerous than a drunken buffoon.

"She's a bouncer," said the blonde girl beside Weiss, putting a hand on the Heiress' sleeve. "It's all right, she works here."

"Are you sure?" Weiss muttered.

"Yes," Blake said before the other human could respond. "If I wasn't here, the owner-" she nodded at Silvio, "would be here telling you the same thing. Put the sword away."

With a flourish, Weiss hung the rapier on her belt, and took a bottle from the other Schnee girl. "We had the situation well in hand." She turned away and sat on a couch, watching the stage.

"Well, _I_ appreciate you," said the blonde who had been menaced by the drunken patron, and she put a hand on Blake's elbow. "Why don't you sit with us?"

Blake twitched and clamped down on her combat-tense reflexes before she attacked the human. "I need to get a drink." She pulled away and disappeared into the safety of the crowd.

###

 _Nice to see someone upholding order,_ Weiss thought as she settled onto the end of the couch, with Myrtenaster on the low table in front of her. She surveyed the room as her friends verbally replayed the entire encounter in disbelieving tones. Weiss thought about the Faunus bouncer as she watched a comedian with floppy dog ears walk off the stage, to be replaced by a limping Faunus with a monkey tail dyed in blue and green stripes, carrying a fiddle. She settled on the stool on stage, and tuned her instrument. The crowd before the stage, so rowdy earlier, grew still as she began to play.

The crowd began to sing along to the cheery drinking song. Weiss allowed herself to relax back into the couch.

###

When Blake got to the bar, Silvio put a large mug of tea on the counter in front of her. "Good job," he said. "Keep close to them if you can."

"One of them invited me to sit with them, but that didn't seem like a good idea," Blake said and took a gulp of the tea. "Do you know the one with the rapier?"

"Weiss Schnee, of course." He glanced over her shoulder at the humans. "Didn't know she had training, but I'm not surprised. I'd thought her daddy pulled strings for her. She's going to be your classmate at Beacon - assuming that you get in."

"So they're fine." Blake stared down into her reflection in her tea, trying not to think of beautiful blue eyes, and the icy determination lurking in their depths. She'd expected the spoiled, sheltered Heiress to fall apart at the first sign of danger, not to draw steel and shield her friends.

"Maybe, maybe not." Silvio leaned closer, right to Blake's ear. "You'd know what a White Fang snatch would involve better than I would. I want you close, just in case. I want any snatch to stop before she levels my bar."

"Point taken." Blake grimaced and took another gulp of her tea. "Keep close, you said. How close?"

"As close as you want. She's a looker." He pulled back slightly as she glared at him. "I saw you dancing with that monkey-tail the other night. She's just your type - blue eyes, long hair, and plenty of steel."

"You're forgetting the human part."

"No, just ignoring it." He socked her shoulder playfully, and set a bottle of cider on the bar next to her tea. "We're not as different as we pretend. Go slumming for a night, Belladonna. Show her your book collection."

Blake sniffed, picked up her tea, and turned for the couches.

Then she turned back for the bottle of cider.

###

Weiss took a pull of cider and looked around the North Star with a greatly improved mood. The hard cider and the sweet, merry melodies of the fiddler left her feeling pleasantly detached from all her worries, and the tension that she lived in at home, that she breathed until she choked, lifted from her. She sang along with the songs, under her breath because she didn't know the words, and watched the Faunus gambol in chaotic dances, so very different from the elaborate waltzes of society balls. The Faunus danced with complete and careless joy, even if few of them had even a tiny fraction of her family's wealth. They didn't care about money or stocks or revenue streams.

Marie and Olga, laughing, let Aggie talk them into learning dance steps from some younger Faunus males. Weiss felt a spike of resentment toward troublemakers like the White Fang. These Faunus were so happy, certainly happier than her. _Why do those White Fang scum try to stir the Faunus up against humans? We can get along just fine without their violence. Look, I'm in the middle of a Faunus bar and I'm fine!_

She banished the White Fang from her thoughts and tilted her bottle back to drain the dregs.

###

Blake circled wide around the dancers, humming along to "Syrup In The Jar," an old Faunus ballad about a bandit evading the human police trying to send him back to a Menagerie. The dancers leaped and whirled and collided in cheerful abandon, a joyful snarl of defiance to the human society beyond the North Star that condemned Faunus to be exploited and abused, and branded them as criminals if they complained or demanded a voice. _We may be poor, we may be doing all your most dangerous jobs, the dancers proclaimed with their bodies, but you can't take away our music, and you can't take away our community!_

Blake staggered under a wave of longing for the camaraderie of the White Fang. United in the struggle against human oppression, they'd been closer than family. She missed Adam's solid embrace and listening ears, missed the banter over meals and entertainments, missed the status and respect she had as a White Fang operative. She stopped dead for a moment, shaken like a rabbit in the teeth of a wolf by the urge to run out of the bar, back to the White Fang, to repent and beg and plead for her place back.

She remembered Adam's voice, _"What about them?"_ She remembered the scornful indifference for anyone outside the circle of the White Fang and its supporters, the dismissal of Faunus who disagreed with them as boot-lickers for the humans. The indifference that would condemn a train full of workers for working for Schnee, not because they were directly threatening or oppressing Faunus, but because they weren't worth the effort to force off the train before it was destroyed.

Blake shook herself back into motion, and started moving again toward the couch circle.

###

Weiss picked up her bottle, remembered it was empty, and set it down again. Another bottle joined it on the low table at the center of the couch circle. "Want another?" the cat-eared bouncer asked.

Weiss smiled up at the beautiful Faunus. "Yes, thank you. Is this for me?" She gestured at the bottle.

"It is." The bouncer made a pass with her hand, and the bottlecap disappeared. Aggie, leaning against Weiss' shoulder, oooed appreciatively and sipped at her own fruity drink. "I just got off. May I sit, or is this a human-only area?"

"Of course!" Aggie caroled from Weiss' shoulder, and scooted over to open a space. Before Weiss quite realized what was happening, the Faunus was gracefully lowering herself to the couch next to Weiss, and Weiss was having trouble forming a coherent thought beyond oh my, she's gorgeous! As the bouncer set a half-full mug on the table next to Weiss' cider bottles, her eyes met Aggie's, and Weiss' friend grinned, picked up her empty drink, and pranced in the direction of the bar. _That schemer!_

Blake watched Aggie go, then smiled pleasantly at Weiss. "I'm Blake."

"Weiss." She smiled broadly, at ease with the world. "Thank you for what you did. Even if I could have taken him."

Blake shrugged and brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face."Better for us to do it. Then it's us that gave him pain, not you."

Weiss shrugged, not wanting to break the pleasant mood, and changed the topic. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

Blake's ears twitched back a bit, then rotated to the sides. "Here and there. Y'know. Whatever was useful."

Weiss marveled at the Faunus even more. _They fight by instinct, without the need for the training humans do. Remarkable!_ "Well, thank you." she said, as the room erupted in applause. The fiddle player waved her instrument in the air, took a bow, and left the stage to thunderous cheering.

Some Faunus from all around the stage started rolling large wood and metal drums onto the stage. "What's happening?"

Blake glanced toward the stage, then back to Weiss. "They're starting a drum circle. Have you seen one of these before?" Blake's pupils reflected a stray bit of light that sent a thrill down Weiss' spine, and she shook her head to cover her expression.

###

"Is this confirmed?" The White Fang cell leader bent over his scroll and scrutinized the footage brought by the informant. On the screen, the four humans settled on a set of couches, cut off here and there as Faunus walked and danced between the camera and the subjects.

"How would we confirm it? Silviano's bartenders never ask for ID," his second-in-command pointed out. "But yeah, I'd bet the white-haired girls are Schnee family members. Cousins at least. And the blonde in the mini-dress," she pointed at one of the girls, next to the one with long white hair, "has been in the North Star twice before, cruising for furry boys. Her daddy's CFO of the Atlas branch of Schnee. Ransoms for all of them."

"Who's the one with the sword? Bodyguard?"

The informant, a rabbit-eared brunette with a supremely forgettable face, stepped over from the opposite side of the safehouse. The cell leader had known him for many years, and knew that the plain, thousands-like-it face and easy smile concealed a sharp wit and a burning devotion to the overthrow of human supremacy. "Dunno. You can't see much in this, but she's got the Schnee face. I'd bet she's Schnee family with a fencing hobby. There was some kind of confrontation with a drunk, and she didn't do anything, just let Silvio's staff deliver the punch."

The cell leader let the video play on, as two of the girls danced with Faunus youths. The desperation implied by the Faunus, to chase human sluts in hope of some kind of handout, made the leader snarl with disgust. Toward the end, a black-haired Faunus in white shorts and a black vest sat next to the long-haired Schnee girl, and the leader hissed in disgust. "Who's she?"

"Bouncer. The one that shielded the humans from a drunk." The informant scrolled back through the video, then shook his head. "I didn't get it on video, but right before this, she was up at the bar, talking to Silvio. I don't remember her name, but one of the other bouncers said she was very new, didn't talk much, always had her nose in a book when not working. She lives at the bar, in one of the staff rooms. She's someone Silvio's putting up."

The cell leader felt his stomach rise at the thought of a Faunus pimping his own staff to rich humans, for surely such a shy, reserved Faunus was ideal prey for such abuses. "Okay, gather all our people. Silvio may have forgotten his own Faunus pride enough to consort with the enemy, but we haven't."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't really say in-text without breaking POV, but Blake is flat-out lying when Weiss asks her where she learned to fight, and she unknowingly strengthened Weiss' prejudices.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> content warning for acts of dubious consent, with one party somewhat intoxicated.

The North Star rocked to the pounding rhythms of the drum circle, as Faunus jumped in and out and hammered on any drum with bare hands or any odd piece of metal or wood that came to hand, and even plastic bottles were pressed into service as drumsticks. The notes from such a bevy of different instruments ranged from high metallic pings to percussive slaps of palm on palm, to low resonant thunder, more felt than heard. No single rhythm or mind controlled the circle, just every individual drummer taking whatever beat seemed best. The rhythms circled and danced around each other, syncopated and synchronized, adding up to an aural assault, a glorious cacophony of celebration. And all around the drum circle, Faunus danced, bouncing on their feet or carried across the top of the crowd, or smashing into each other like sand grains in a bottle.

Weiss winced at the volume, but she grinned at the energy displayed by the dancers. The volume required her to lean very close to Blake to speak or hear, but Weiss didn't mind at all, since Blake smelled like musk and beer, an intoxicating combination of scents that bred butterflies in Weiss' midsection. She put an arm across Blake's shoulders and let her hand climb up to those silky-soft black ears, and yelled, "Do you dance?"

###

Ever since Blake had sat down, the Schnee girl had gotten closer and closer as her bottle of cider slowly emptied, and now Blake was regretting giving in to her loneliness instead of keeping her distance from the humans. She knew the human was only looking for excitement and adventure, with no regard for the lives and feelings of those under her feet as she frolicked carelessly through life.

But with a warm strong arm across her shoulders and wiry fingers running through her hair and around the base of her ears, Blake was having trouble thinking of Weiss as anything but a lost young person, looking for a solid place in the world to tie herself to. Heaven knew she'd befriended enough Faunus fosterlings in her years in the White Fang. Often orphaned and adrift in the world, she'd taught them to fill their hearts and their arms with the movement, giving them meaning and purpose and discipline. Now Weiss was reminding her of nothing so much as her fosterlings, which was ridiculous, since Weiss had a family, had an empire, had everything she desired, why was she clinging like the world was flooding and Blake was high ground?

"Do you dance?" The lonely human, no, the _spoiled brat_ asked in Blake's ear, a bit too loud, her cider breath tickling Blake's nose, evoking memories of an apple orchard the White Fang had used for combat training, nights under the stars, a single drum passed hand-to-hand…

Blake twitched her ears, shaking off the memories, and just nodded. _If this spoiled princess wants me to perform like a trained animal, I swear I'm gonna hit her…_

"Teach me?" Weiss asked in a sweet, cider-laced whisper. Blake glanced aside, and there was no haughty entitlement or condescension in her big blue eyes, only the earnest entreaty of a child begging for a treat. Her lips were slightly parted, and Blake for a moment considered pleading exhaustion, returning to her room, the little cubby above the bar where she'd packed away a few spare possessions and a pile of books scavenged from dumpsters and secondhand shops, and losing herself in the words for the night.

But there was Weiss with her cider breath and her bright eyes and a sweet little smile, and Blake's resolve melted. "It's not the kind of thing you teach. You just… let the music move you."

Weiss pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "Like this?" she mouthed, and before Blake could react, Weiss shimmied around on the couch to plant herself squarely in Blake's lap, with her legs folded into the space she'd previously occupied. She smirked down at Blake and ran her fingers along Blake's scalp, sending a thrill down Blake's spine. "I'm taller than you!" Weiss cried in joy.

Blake grinned back in sheer contagion. Then Weiss began to pick and play with Blake's ears, and Blake couldn't help wincing when the heiress' fingers brushed the sensitive hairs inside her ears, but she couldn't tell the heiress no, could she? Not unless she wanted a drunken tantrum on her hands, so she tolerated the clumsy pawing. Weiss didn't seem to get the hint, and Blake was about to grab Weiss' hands when the North Star's front door blew in.

###

The safehouse was packed with White Fang fighters, each receiving a sword or submachine gun from the second-in-command, and buckling themselves into white combat armor. The cell leader watched, tapping his spiked mace against his leg with impatience. He'd sent the informant back into the North Star to watch the humans, but he had no way to be sure that they wouldn't decide to scamper to another bar and he'd lose his chance.

At last, all the fighters were armed and armored, and the cell leader stepped into the center of the room. "We have an opportunity that won't come our way very soon. Four teenage humans, the relatives of Schnee Company executives, were spotted in the North Star tavern trying to pick up Faunus."

The leader paused a moment to let that sink in, and several fighters shook their heads in disgust. "We're going to show Silvio Delrei that Faunus aren't for sale to the oppressors, no matter how rich they are. We're going to teach Schnee that they can't treat Faunus like playthings. And we're going to take those humans prisoner until the Kingdom releases all it White Fang prisoners!" As a collective snarl of agreement went around the room, he held up his mace and hit the trigger, sending sparks jumping between the spikes. "I'll take out Silvio, the rest of you keep the crowd from interfering. You are your squad-" he nodded at one subleader "-spread out and guard the exits. We'll take the girls to the place on the waterfront, and make contact with White Fang command. Any questions?"

The White Fang fighters nodded, and the leader pointed his mace toward the door. "Let's do this. For the White Fang!"

###

Blake pushed Weiss to the side as figures in the white body armor and masks of White Fang fighters stormed into the North Star, and the crowd pulled away in fear of their swords and guns. Silvio raised his scimitar, a curve of blazing orange fire, and charged the White Fang, but they dodged out of his way, except for one who met his charge head-on. Sun-bright sparks flared, and when they cleared Silvio was stretched out flat on the floor, his extinguished scimitar under the White Fang fighter's boot. "All right, everybody, stay calm!" He shouted over the din, raising his mace over his head. "We don't want any other Faunus getting hurt, so please don't resist. As soon as we have what we're here for, we'll leave you in peace. We're just here for the humans!" White Fang fighters started threading through the crowd, and Blake quickly lost count of them, but she guessed there were at least a dozen, probably more. Her hands ached for Gambol Shroud, and she felt an unexpected twinge of sympathy for the Schnee Company guards she'd fought in the last few years, feeling utterly outclassed.

"Like hell," Weiss muttered beside Blake, her rapier in her hand. Blake pulled the girl down beside the table. A moment too late, Weiss started to struggle, her reactions slowed by the alcohol. Two of the human girls dropped down beside Blake and pressed close to Weiss' back, clinging to each other, their eyes wide as saucers.

"Stay out of sight, I'll try to find your friend." Blake hissed in Weiss' ear.

"Like hell!" Weiss' shout attracted a handful of the White Fang fighters. Blake cursed under her breath, and tried to push herself between Weiss and the White Fang fighters, but Weiss' arm blocked her way. The White Fang spread out, levelling their guns at Weiss.

"Come here, cat-girl," called one of the White Fang, a stocky woman at the end of the line, her features obscured by the mask and hood of the Fang combat uniform. "Come here, we'll keep you safe from Silvio and the humans."

The words hit Blake like a gut-punch, and she struggled for a moment to breathe. How many times had she said the same thing to Faunus who were bullied, exploited, ground down by a human society that didn't care? How many young Faunus had she welcomed into the White Fang? For all she knew, some of the soldiers standing around her had been her students long ago, but if so, none of them showed it. The female gestured again with her short curved sword, and Blake glanced back at Weiss. The heiress kept her rapier steady as a rock, only her jumping eyes betraying uncertainty at the steep odds, but not wavering in standing between the White Fang and her friends. _She may be a spoiled brat, but she's got guts._

Blake returned her eye to the White Fang, counting guns, measuring, estimating reaction times, all her experience fighting Schnee security coming back into play. She nodded at the White Fang fighter, then _moved_.

She raced to the female White Fang fighter and grabbed the hilt of the woman's sword. Before her target could react, Blake slammed the flat of the blade into the fighter's face, then vaulted over her to land behind the bar. Gambol Shroud was waiting for her.

###

When Blake moved so fast, Weiss almost attacked her, but the catgirl just knocked out one of the White Fang fighters and disappeared. _That worthless Faunus!_ Weiss snarled under her breath. She raised Myrtenaster higher and cycled through its Dust chambers, acutely aware of the way her reflexes had been dulled by the alcohol. She wanted to retreat, find a way out of the tavern, but without Aggie… _no friend left behind._

The White Fang leader gestured, and a pair of warriors dragged the unconscious fighter back toward the door. After a moment, another warrior, searching through the crowd, snarled and dragged Aggie out of the crowd with a sword at her throat. "Now you have a choice, little human," the leader said. "You can drop your fancy sword and come with us peacefully, or you can force us to slit your friend's throat and knock you out. We won't hurt you, unless you make us."

Aggies said, in a voice tight with fear, "No, Weiss! Don't negotia-" before her captor tapped his sword to her throat. She squeaked and fell silent, while Weiss silently cursed her for being a _complete and utter dolt_.

"Well, well, Weiss, is it? Heiress of the Schnee Company?" The Cell leader grinned under his mask. "You'll be worth quite a ransom. Though what condition you're in when we take you is entirely up to you."

Weiss switched Myrtenaster until its red vial was selected. _Better not to let them take her alive. Who knows what these Faunus scum will do to her?_ She prepared to send a wave of fire into the Faunus holding Aggie.

Before she pulled Myrtenaster's trigger to send the red Dust out onto Myrtenaster's blade, she saw something flash up in the shadows of the North Star's rafters, and paused.

###

Blake had managed to climb up into the North Star's rafters with Gambol Shroud on her back, but the prospect of fighting her own ex-comrades, for the sake of the spawn of one of the most oppressive companies in Remnant, gave her pause. _Why exactly am I helping her?_

She eyed Weiss' sure, confident stance, and thought about the Schnee security robots and guards she'd fought. She pictured the same forces tearing apart the Faunus quarters of the city, looking for their missing children. They would not spare the innocent in their frantic hunt, nor care about Faunus lives or sentiments. The Faunus, stewing in their oppression and uncertainty, would not submit quietly to Schnee thugs tearing apart their homes.. The fires would burn for weeks…

Blake bared her teeth in a silent snarl. _Not if I can prevent it. Sorry, brothers of the White Fang, but my people come before your purse._ She edged along the beam as one of the White Fang found Weiss' friend and dragged her out into the middle of their semicircle. _Oh, this will be fun._

She glanced at Weiss, saw the girl tense with some unpleasant decision. Blake pulled a makeup mirror from her pocket and flashed light at Weiss in a simple Schnee Company signal. _Hold_ , she flashed at the Heiress. _Reinforcements coming_.

She saw Weiss relax slightly, and nod. Blake tucked her mirror back into its pocket, and crept further along the beam, over the heads of the White Fang fighters. "What guarantee can you give of our safety?"

"I'm a Faunus of my word, Heiress. If you don't trust me, that's your problem." Below her and to one side, the cell leader slung his mace across his shoulders. "And I can guarantee that if you don't drop the fancy sword, your friend will die."

Weiss glanced up at Blake with anxiety in her eyes, and Blake hissed as a few White Fang fighters followed her eyes. She pulled Gambol Shroud off her back, thought a momentary prayer, and leapt off the rafter, out into empty air.

Some errant god must have heard her prayer, for Gambol Shroud's metal hilt crunched into the Faunus' nerve junction just between the shoulder and neck. The White Fang soldier's arm dropped nerveless as he collapsed, bellowing in pain. Blake landed just behind the stunned human, grabbed her arm, and leapt toward Weiss as the White Fang fighters began to realize what happened.

As she flew, Weiss swept her rapier down, and something blue flashed under under her. Trying to shield the untrained human girl from a rough landing, Blake landed awkwardly, in a pile of limbs all tangled up with the human girl, who promptly broke down crying. Blake untangled herself from the human and shoved her toward her friends. She glanced back toward the White Fang, and saw a wall of gleaming ice crystals her own height. From the other side of the wall came dull thumps as the White Fang fighters beyond tried to break through.

"We have to get out of here," Weiss said.

"I'll cover you as long as I can," Blake said, and pointed away from the wall of ice. "There's a fire exit out the back."

"Come with us!" said the blonde, her voice breaking on a sob.

Blake shook her head, and said to Weiss, "Make sure she gets treatment for shock when you're safe."

"Thank you." Weiss nodded. "Take care." The words felt odd to say to a Faunus of all people, but Weiss meant them.

Blake looked back toward the ice as it dissolved in a shower of glittering ice crystals. She heard footsteps running behind her, and raised Gambol Shroud in its sheath as the White Fang cell leader charged through, his mace spitting sparks.

Before he could reach her, Blake was gone, vanished into the rafters.

###

Weiss trailed her friends through the exit, and almost ran into Olga's back when they stopped. She looked past her friend's shoulder and bit back a snarl of frustration at the two White Fang goons with guns pointed at their faces.

"You just stay right there," one of them sneered.

Weiss focused her will and gestured with one hand, out of sight behind Olga's back. A blue glyph flashed into existence on the pavement, and the goons were launched screaming into the air. Weiss prodded Olga, and the girls started running down the noisome alley. "Where's the limo?" Weiss asked, her stomach shaking between the alcohol and adrenaline.

"Called… it," Marie panted. "Said, meet us… at… street."

Like a miracle, their limo pulled up at the end of the alley, the forcefields of its defense system throwing off lambent green light. The door slid open, and all four girls piled in. Weiss was last, keeping Myrtenaster's blade pointed at the driver's compartment in case this turned out to be a ruse. "Show your face!"

The divider lowered, revealing the loyal driver she'd known for years. Weiss sighed in relief and lowered her blade. "Glad you're back, miss. Do you need medical attention?"

Weiss pressed her lips together, then shook her head. "Get us back to Schnee Manor, I'll take care of this. Does my father know about tonight?"

The driver just looked forward. "Well, I didn't want to give incomplete information, so I just said there'd been a bit of trouble."

"Okay," Weiss nodded, and glanced back at the others. "A bar fight broke out, and we left. No Faunus bar, no White Fang, and the rest never happened. Agreed?" The others nodded.

###

Blake watched from atop the North Star as the limo pulled away. Below, the White Fang fighters were streaming out of the tavern, searching for their quarry. Sirens whistled in the distance, the Vale Police at last, and the White Fang milled around for a moment, then disappeared into the shadows.

Blake watched them go, the slid through the hidden trapdoor on the roof, down into the tavern's interior, to try and fix some of the damage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please do not be Weiss at the beginning of this chapter. In case it's not clear, she's nonconsensually touching Blake's ears, and Blake choosing to not resist doesn't make it easier. Always seek affirmative, explicit, enthusiastic consent.

**Author's Note:**

> There will be more.  
> I wanted to say a little about one of the tags I use.  
> I see Weiss as a racist character. This isn't necessarily a bad thing - she's the product of a racist society. She's not calling for all Faunus to be exterminated, or put into Menageries, but she has a view of the "way things ought to be" that puts Faunus into a distinct place. There isn't much of that in this part, but I'll be exploring that more in future parts.


End file.
